OUR CRUISE - THE FINAL DAYS 5 AND 6

The last day at sea, as we headed back to port, was relaxing. We had already got sunburned to the point of a few blisters, so we tried to spend much of the day reading in various shady locations. Its weird to think that in a couple of days we would be back in Wisconsin, and in a few more back at work. The trip was exactly what we needed as a couple. It will give us the energy to continue on our journey.

Beyond reading, we spent much of the day at various shows or learning about the process of getting off of the ship. It turns out that we have options in terms of getting off. Not good options mind you, but having options is a good thing. Our options were to get off and carry our bags, or have the bags taken off for us. You get to get off first if you take the bags off yourself, but by first I mean about 8 am. When we were still on vacation, we didn’t feel like waking up at 7 am just to hurry into a 17 hour drive. Since we chose to have our bags taken off for us that meant we needed to have all of our things packed and left outside our room tonight.

As we packed our closets and drawers into our bags, we realized that we packed a bit too much. Out of our two suitcases, we could almost full one complete one with clothes we didn’t wear. We finished out the night by going to an adult comedy act. It was not that funny, but we didn’t expect much.

We went to bed, but couldn’t fall asleep. It was a mix of not wanting vacation to be over and excitement for getting to see our pets as well as sleep in our own bed. As we drifted to sleep, it was easy to see that we had a great trip, but were ready to go home.

Day 6

Lines. Lets take a step back to day 1 for a moment. As we boarded the ship, there was line after line after line and we didn’t think much of it. The ship was late getting into port, so we figured that was the cause for the current delays. There was a line to get into the parking garage that took about 45 minutes. After we got in, there was a line of about 35 minutes to get through the metal detector. And just when you felt you were done with lines, you rounded a bend to the biggest line yet, check in. That line probably took us over an hour to navigate through. And even after checking in, there was a wait to get our rooms, and long lines at some of the buffets.

Back to present day 6. Our choice of embarking should have allowed for an easy transition to land. Each deck gets to get off, and then all the people who didn’t carry there own bags off are broken up into 25 different groups and then let go a few at a time. Somehow, it didn’t work like magic as you would have hoped. We got to wait for a couple hours until they called our number, only to wait in another 45 minute line to get off the ship. It seemed like every time you rounded the corner, you found another line, 5 times as long as the one you just finally got through. After getting off the ship, we found a long line to get our luggage, and even longer to go through customs.

I didn’t realize that we would need to go through customs, as we left from an America port, and returned to that same port. It makes some sense, as perhaps some people sell their ID to a friendly Mexican and live out their days on the beaches of Cozumel. Come to think of it, going back to 50 degree rainy Wisconsin weather, perhaps we should have given that a little more thought.

Luckily, after getting through customs, there were almost no lines to get out of the parking lot. Its something to be said that when you end up waiting like 7 hours to get off, no one else is left in the area. Being on the road was a relaxing place after feeling like cattle. We decided to take a different way home, with the hopes of more gas stops and chances to see civilization. In the end it was a bad move, as more cities also meant far more road construction. Despite the construction, we made a great time on the drive, and got home at about 3:30 AM. There is no place like home, there is no place like home, there is no place like home. Actually, there is no place like your own bed, and pillows, and kitties. As we are ready to sleep for a good 24 hours, we are excited to see what our next vacation brings, and who knows, perhaps our lives will be even more exciting by that point.